A nice little story.

I adore the film adaptation with Sidney Poitier. It took me a while to get a copy of the book but it finally happened. It’s a lovely and quick read. While I enjoy the movie a bit more than the book, the heart of the story remains admired. It follows Homer Smith’s happenstance interaction on the course of his travels across the Southwest with a group of German nuns who see his presence as divine intervention to fulfill their dream of building a chapel. It’s genuine with bits of humor and friendship - and an underrated modern classic.

I'm not sure if I love it for its simplicity, WEB's occasional understated insights, or if I love it because Poitier's Homer Smith does more with silence than I've seen any actor do since I discovered the film 3 ish years ago. The book stopped just short of something, I'm not sure what, but I found myself a bit underwhelmed with the end.

Short but sweet

The story of a black ex-GI who helps a group of German nuns, I thought this was absolutely beautiful when I read it at age 14.

I'm just going to jump right in to this review because......*sigh*.
First of all, this book is only SIX CHAPTERS LONG!?!?! So that's one thing that irked me about this.
Second, Barrett's writing style would barely hit second grade now. It just didn't appeal to me at all, based on the writing style.
Third, the storyline is rather uninteresting and slow. He sure packs a punch in six chapters, but that punch is slow and has no power following from it.
Fourth, the characters are kind of flat and stereotypical. The German nuns are mean, cruel, and not really eager to help Homer. Speaking of Homer: he is an African-American ex-military male who has no place to sleep and no job, but he is very good at manual labor. *sigh*
All in all, this book was not my cup of tea. I hope I didn't offend anyone (either racially or otherwise) in this review. This is simply my opinion.
I would be hesitant to recommend this to anyone, no matter their tastes.

Found an old copy in a little free library and thought it might be a gem. It did not disappoint. Sweet, up lifting. More of a short story really. Read it in one afternoon.

This novella about a friendship between an order of German nuns and an African American former G.I. resulting in the building of a chapel in the desert is really moving. For me, it gave the message that despite having different faiths and backgrounds, people can get along peacefully and work together for a common cause. It is about mutual understanding and respect.